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This Week: Stumbling Toward Nuclear War

A military officer at the D.M.Z. This summer, the prospect of a nuclear confrontation between the United States and North Korea, the most hermetic power on the globe, entered a realm of psychological calculation reminiscent of the Cold War. Image by Max Pinckers/The New Yorker. North Korea, 2017.

Pulitzer Center grantee and New Yorker staff writer Evan Osnos spent five days in North Korea at the invitation of the Pyongyang government. The result is this extraordinary dispatch that examines the U.S.-North Korea nuclear standoff through the looking glass lens of the Hermit Kingdom. As President Trump issues threatening tweets to counter Kim Jung Un’s missile launches, Evan unspools the surreal brinksmanship between the “senescent real-estate mogul and reality-television star and a young third-generation dictator who has never met another head of state." Between them, Evan notes, the two have less than seven years of experience in political leadership.

Hundreds of Muslim refugees in Germany have sought asylum in churches—and converted to Christianity. As grantee Alice Su reports in The Washington Post, German immigration authorities and local Muslim clerics question the authenticity of these conversions.

Shao Jian Feng, 26, holds a Saltwater Crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) in his home on the outskirts of Beijing. This juvenile is only two and half years old, but when fully grown can reach up to six metres, making it the largest reptile in the world. It's just one of five crocodilians he owns, along with two other large snakes. "There are twenty three crocodilian species in the world. We hope to collect all of them", he boasts. A Saltwater Crocodile can retail for up to 9000RMB (US$1500). In the wild, they can be found mainly in South East Asia and Northern Australia. Image by Sean Gallagher. China, 2017.

A poisonous snake for a pet? Or maybe a black tip reef shark? “It’s more than just a fad here in China,” says grantee Sean Gallagher, whose National Geographic documentary looks at how the appetite for exotic pets drives the illegal wildlife trade.